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• ISWAP running parallel govt with me, Niger LG boss cries out
By John Adams, Minna
It is no news that Niger State is one under the siege of bandits and insurgents, with attendant loss of lives and properties. Hardly a day passes without an attack or a tragic tale of woes in one community or the other.
Despite efforts by successive administrations, the situation has remained critical. The people have lost counts of the number of their loved ones lost to banditry even as the bandits have continued to tighten their grip on villages and communities.
The latest siege is the occupation of the nation’s third largest national park, Kainji National Park, New Bussa, Borgu Local Government. The park is largely controlled by members of the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP), who have since settled there with their wives and children.
Chairman, Borgu LG, Yerima Sulayman, confessed to Daily Sun: “The ISWAP group is running a parallel government with me in my council because the communities under its control have submitted themselves to them and they even take directives from them. They do that because that is the only way they can live in peace with the group.”
He pointed out that the local government plays host to two military formations, 99 Air Weapon School, Nigerian Air Force Base, New Bussa and 221 Battalion, Wawa Military Cantonment: “They are answerable to the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 2 Mechanised Division, Ibadan, Oyo State and take orders from the division.
“They don’t attend security meetings in Niger State and therefore cannot be involved in internal security in the state and by extension, the local government. That is one of our major challenges in tackling the activities of the ISWAP and the bandits.
“After the boundary adjustment, which ceded Borgu LG to Niger State from Kwara State, the military formations are still under Kwara State which falls under the 2, Mechanised Division. Ibadan.
“Niger State is under 1, Mechanised Division, Nigerian Army, Kaduna and ordinarily should be the one to come to the rescue of the local government. But nothing has been done to assist the council despite several security reports to the state security council.
“Activities of the insurgents amounted to a siege on the local government. Their activities of the insurgents have changed the lifestyle of the people. My people live in fear and apprehension and there is no end in sight.”
Daily Sun gathered that they engage themselves in some lucrative economic activities, such as full-scale mining business as well as venturing into timber business with Benin Republic as their market: “While the ISWAP members engage themselves in mining and timber business, the bandits on the other hand are busy kidnapping villagers and innocent travellers along the Lunma-Banna Road for ransom.”
He listed the communities around the National Park, especially Dekara and Gbeji who have since submitted themselves to the authority of the ISWAP group since they (ISWAP) has proved to themselves as untouchable: “The situation is a great concern to the local government, especially when no effort is being made to flush out the insurgents from the National Park.
“They have been there for over seven years now with their wives and children even before I assumed office. They are into mining and timber business with nobody challenging them.
“Since I came into office almost two years ago, I have made several complaints and written a number of security reports on the activities of the groups, but no concrete effort has been taken against them.
“Even at the state security meetings, I have made several complaints and drawn attention of the State Security Council to their existence and their activities in my council. But the story is still the same they are in control of the National Park.”
Investigations revealed that the criminal exploits started about eight years ago. Then it was largely a case of kidnapping for ransom. Villagers said as the years went by, the criminality assumed the shape of a full occupation by the groups of ISWAP members who successfully dislodged the staff of the National Park and took over.
A member of Dekara, one of the communities under the control of ISWAP, who did not want his name in print for fear of being picked up by the insurgents, said the bandits and ISWAP divided the park into two, sharing the space among themselves: “While ISWAP the larger part of the forest, the bandits controls a lesser part of the forest.
“They (ISWAP) resolve disputes among the people. The district heads take directives from them and anybody who dares to report their activities in the area to the outside world is always met with severe consequences. No security agent dares come to this area for fear of his own life.
“Apart from mediating and settling disputes among the people, sometimes the ISWAP group helps the communities to rescue their people from the hands of the bandits if such kidnap incident is reported to them. Such rescue operations have resulted in heavy casualties from both sides in recent times.”
It was gathered that the people of the two communities and surrounding villages have also decided to submit themselves to the authorities of the insurgents since their activities in the area have continued unchallenged by the government for over eight years now.
Our source disclosed further that the ISWAP group decides who become the district heads of Dekara and Gbenji: “This is the reality that we are faced with in Borgu LG at the moment.”
However, attempts to get the reaction of the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, General Garba Abdullahi Mohmmed (retd), failed. Hee declined to speak to Daily Sun after several visits to his office.
In 2021, gunmen suspected to be the members of ISWAP launched an attack on the palace of the District Head of Wawa in Borgu LG and kidnapped the District Head, Mahmoud Ahmed Aliyu.
A source said: “He was severely tortured by the group before he was miraculously released after five days in captivity, with strict warning to stay clear of their activities in the area.”
